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Maegashira
Maegashira was a sludge/doom quartet from New Jersey. The band's sound evokes elements of harsh sludge, low-end doom and even occasional elements of psychedelic. The band's lyrics derived from the arctic, anti-hipster anthems, society and personal issues. In their tenure the band released a single album among two demos and two split releases. The name of Maegashira is based on the lowest of five ranks in the top Makuuchi division of sumo wrestling. History Maegashira began sometime in 2005 with the founding lineup of Koczan, Eager, Pierro and Moraghan. While cutting their teeth in the local circles, the quartet would work with Austin Lunn (Agnosis, Viking Kong, The Mighty Auroch, Slow Joe Crow & The Berserker Blues Band) to engineer their first demo at Estate Sounds, Short Hills, New Jersey, circa November and December 2005. This demo saw it's release a month later as The Inner Workings of Block Time, featuring a sumo wrestler on the album cover in a literal reference to the band's name. the band would return to Estate Studios that September to record a second demo, released as The 1,209,600 Seconds Sessions circa March 2007. Maegashira would play several club shows in New Jersey but also New York, Connecticut, Michigan and Pennsylvania among other states among festival appearances such as Cleavage of Doom and Stoner Hands of Doom. The band would share the stage with the likes of Weedeater, 12 Eyes, Black Pyramid, Clamfight and Sourvein among others between 2007 and 2009. With enough material to work on a debut album, Maegashira would work on a debut record at Redline Archiving in Little Silver, New Jersey, working with Lou Gorra (Halfway To Gone, Solarized). By December 2008 it would be confirmed that the band had signed with Spare Change Records.Brave Words The Stark Arctic would see it's release on 13 January 2009, ultimately seeing a host of positive reviews among the likes of Rocknworld,Rocknworld Nocturnal Cult,Nocturnal Cult AllMusic,AllMusic NeufuturNeufutur and Metal UndergroundMetal Underground among others. Following a tour that August the band would eventually attain a new drummer in Joe Wood and perform a handful of shows the next year before disbanding. Maegashira's last known show would be on 5 September 2010 at the Bowery Electric in New York with Evoken, Wormrot and Wizardry.Maegashira Facebook Two years after Maegashira would disband, John Eager and George Pierro would form a new sludge band in Tarpit Boogie. Before the band broke up JJ Koczan launched The Obelisk on 31 January 2009, covering all sorts of underground bands, a website he remains active with to this day. Second drummer Joe Wood would be a founding member of southern metal band Borgo Pass, along with stints in Eternal Black, 12 Eyes and Negative Reaction. Discography *'The Inner Workings of Block Time' (Demo) (2006, Self-Released) *'The 1,209,600 Seconds Sessions' (Demo) (2007, Self-Released) *'Maegashira / Sowbelly / OSSM' (Split with Sowbelly, OSSM) (2009, Shifty Records; Blue Grass Records) *'The Stark Arctic' (Studio Album) (2009, Spare Change Records) *'The Trilateral Commission' (Split with 12 Eyes, John Wilkes Booth) (2009, Commie Bastards; FuzzTown Records) Members *'JJ Koczan' - Vocals (2005 - 2010) *'John Eager' - Bass (2005 - 2010) *'George Pierro' - Guitar (2005 - 2010) *'Steve Moraghan' - Drums (2005 - 2009) *'Joe Wood' - Drums (2010) List of Known Tours *'Amped For The End' (With Cortez, Ichabod, When The Deadbolt Breaks) (2009)Last.fm External Links Official Links *Maegashira on MySpace *Maegashira on Last.fm *Maegashira's Page on Spare Change Records' Website *Archived Official Page *Alternate Archived Official Page Archival / YouTube Links *Hounds Breath live 2009 *Ammonia For Sweat live 2009 *Caribou Crossing live 2009 *Baggage Claim / Skin Slip live 2009 *Live at Stoner Hands of Doom X *Live at Krug's Place References Category:Band Category:Sludge Metal Category:Doom Metal Category:New Jersey Category:JJ Koczan